French Ambassador to lead 100 powerful businessmen at Nagpur to invest more in India

100 French businessmen are about to lead their way to an investment conclave in Nagpur on Nov 2. The delegation representing 30 organisations from France will join France's Ambassador to India Alexandre Ziegler.

The delegation of French businessmen reportedly hold interests in key sectors of defence, aerospace, smart mobility, logistics, and sustainable develeopment.

The event organized by the Indo-French Chamber of Commerce will be presided by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadanvis, and Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport and Highways.

In a note from the organizers, the Ambassador was quoted as saying, "French companies see great potential in the Indian economy. They invest and innovate in India. Maharashtra is emerging as a very promising investment destinations in India and I am confident that this Conclave will prove to be a very fruitful moment for the Indo-French trade relationship."

Over 300 visitors and around 30 French companies are expected to participate in the discussions leading to an enabling environment for boosting the Indo-French partnership. The event will also bring together Indian national and state authorities, policymakers, top private sector players from India and France, multilateral agencies, and eminent industry experts.

Mr Guillaume Girard-Reydet, President, IFCCI said "India is at the cusp of an unprecedented transformation powered by factors such as rapid urbanisation and increasing consumption driven by its young population. At this juncture, France sees great opportunity in partnering with India's transformative economic programmes such as Make in India, Digital India, and SMART cities and IFCCI is helping in facilitating this through this Indo-French Investment Conclave."

France is considered among India's largest foreign investors.

In 2016-17, the bilateral trade between India and France stood at $10.96 billion, compared to $8.3 billion in 2015-16, according to data from the ministry of commerce.

French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March 2018 promised to increase trade relations between the two countries to $17.29 billion by 2022.